Rick Nelson

Wireless helmets—more feature creep?
September 23, 2006

Here’s a potential application area for wireless communications: helmet-to-helmet signaling in (American) football. Is that more feature creep, or a legitimate response to changing playing environments?

Because of ever nosier crowds populating increasingly covered stadiums, players on offense have an increasingly difficult time hearing their quarterback, and consequently, the New York Times has found, “penalties, particularly noise-related penalties like offensive holding and false starts, have been on the rise in recent years.”

Of course, the quarterbacks themselves are able to communicate wirelessly with their coaches (up until 15 seconds before a play begins), a fact that’s enabled Motorola to get its logo prominently displayed on televised games. But does no good for offensive linemen and ends, who may, to avoid penalties, have to read lips (an awkward and error-prone process) or loose precious milliseconds when a play starts.

But some offensive players object to in- helmet wireless devices. As reported in the Times, New York Giants guard David Diehl, speaking before a game at Seattle’s noisy Qwest Field, said, “That’s part of the battle of having home-field advantage, is having a loud crowd, doing those kinds of things so the other team is not able to hear the count, not be able to hear those things. I don’t think I’d be for it.”

Posted by Rick Nelson on September 23, 2006 | Comments (0)